men living in the most deprived areas are ten times more at risk of suicide than those living in the most affluent areas.

Despite this, men are significantly less likely to access mental health services than women. The Mental Health Foundation found that 28% of men had not sought medical help for the last mental health problem they experienced, and 35% of men had waited over two years or have never disclosed a mental health problem to a friend or family member. Another survey, from the Men’s Health Forum, found a majority of men would take time off work to seek medical help for physical symptoms, but less than one in five said they would do the same for anxiety (19%) or feeling low (15%).

It’s clear, then, that there are strong cultural barriers facing men in relation to mental health diagnosis. Perceived stigma and ideas of masculinity can cause them to avoid seeking help or fail to acknowledge mental health issues.

Changing attitudes in changing rooms

We’ve written previously about the success of Men’s Shed projects in providing a safe, social space for men’s mental health issues to be addressed. We were interested, therefore, to hear about another scheme which is also using a community-based approach to explore men’s health.

The Changing Room Initiative is a two year pilot project which sees the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) Trust and Hibernian (Hibs) football club working in partnership with the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) to engage men in their community around issues of mental health and wellbeing. The project uses football and sport as a tool to encourage men to discuss their mental health and wellbeing and to help direct them to additional support and services within their community.

The initiative is part of a wider program from SAMH which is using sport to improve equality and reduce stigma around mental health. In February 2018, SAMH launched Scotland’s mental health charter for physical activity and sport. Signatories of the charter include Sport Scotland, SPFL Trust, Jog Scotland and Glasgow Life.

In October 2018, following the success of the initial pilot scheme, SAMH announced a second changing room initiative was due to be rolled out at another Edinburgh football club, Heart of Midlothian FC (Hearts).

Using sport to engage and improve mental health

There is a lot of research available which highlights the links between positive mental health and physical activity. Even low-level physical activity has been found to have a positive impact on our mood and general wellbeing. Activities like walking, cycling or gardening have been shown to reduce stress improve self-esteem and have a significant positive impact on depression and anxiety. However, research has also shown that people with mental health issues are also more likely to have poor physical health, and often face additional barriers to participating in sport and becoming active.

The Get Set to Go programme was launched with the support of Sport England and the National Lottery in July 2015 to help people with mental health problems benefit from being physically active. An evaluation of the project published in 2017 showed that physical activity has an important role to play in building resilience, enabling and supporting mental health recovery and tackling stigma and discrimination.

New support networks

There is a continuing push among healthcare and third sector professionals to stress that mental health is just as important as physical health. However, funding for mental health is comparatively low and research shows people are far more willing to acknowledge or accept help for physical illness.

With the roll-out of projects like the Changing Room Initiative to promote mental health in familiar environments, it’s hoped that those struggling with poor mental health will receive the support and treatment they need.

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Today is National Writing Day, an annual celebration to inspire people across the UK to get writing. But this year’s annual literacy survey from the National Literacy Trust has found that children and young people’s enjoyment of writing and how often they write is in decline, suggesting that more action is needed to inspire this section of society.

Worryingly, the survey highlights that daily writing levels have been falling since 2014, and this year the Trust recorded the lowest levels of daily writing since they began asking this question in 2010 (27.0%).

What do the figures show?

Based on a survey of 47,786 children and young people aged 8 to 18 between November 2017 and end of January 2018, key findings include:

only half of children and young people enjoy writing very much or quite a lot (49.2%);

less than 1 child in 5 writes something that isn’t for school on a daily basis (17.3%);

younger children enjoy writing almost twice as much as their older peers (68.5% of 8 to 11-year-olds, 46.5% of 11 to 14-year-olds, 36% of 14 to 16-year-olds).

The percentage of children and young people who enjoy writing either very much or quite a lot decreased by 1.5 percentage points between 2016 and 2017/18, following the highest levels of writing enjoyment recorded in 2016.

Most children and young people do, however, write things on a regular basis with the use of digital technology. Most respondents said they write text messages (88.1%) and instant messages (77.8%) in their free time at least once a month, followed by short stories/fiction (44.1%) and song lyrics (35.8%). One in six children also engages in online fiction writing (such as Movellas, Wattpad) at least once a month.

This is perhaps no surprise, given the digital age we live in. However, concerns have been raised over the impact increasing use of digital technology is having on children’s ability to write. Could this be attributable, at least in part, to the declining enjoyment of writing?

Initiatives to inspire – can the World Cup help?

In an attempt to stem the decline and help inspire children and young people once again in the run up to National Writing Day, the Trust has launched a series of programmes. Drawing on the excitement surrounding the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, a range of football-themed activities, competitions, teaching resources and lesson ideas have been created to boost literacy this summer. These include:

The hope is these activities will inspire more children and young people to get writing, both within the classroom and outside it.

Previous years’ activities that have drawn on the influence of football and major sporting events suggest that these activities may well achieve their aim. Following a writing competition around the Women’s FA Cup last year, teachers said their students’ enthusiasm for writing (80%), motivation to write (76%) and confidence in writing (68%) had improved.

Similarly, the Premier League Reading Stars (PLRS) programme has had a significant impact on pupils’ reading attainment. In Christ’s School in Richmond upon Thames, 80% of pupils made more than expected progress after taking part. Commenting on the success of the programme in Girlington Primary School in Bradford, Assistant Headteacher, Daniel Walker, noted:

“Two boys made two sub levels of progress, which is the equivalent of more than a year’s expected progress in one term. One boy made dramatic progress of a whole level (3 sub-levels) in a term.”

Final thoughts

There is universal agreement that writing is important, particularly for young people, in terms of engagement and development. Even the respondents to the Trust’s survey agreed with statements highlighting the functional aspect of writing – 77.6% of children and young people agreed that writing will help them learn more and 74.7% agreed that the more they write, the better their writing becomes. Over half also agreed that they will get a better job if they are good at writing.

The fun aspect of writing, on the other hand, fared less well. Only 41.6% agreed that writing is fun, and only 34.0% agreed that writing is cool. Indeed, it has been argued that there is a need for greater emphasis on writing for pleasure. With their focus on the more fun aspects of writing, perhaps the recent programmes from the Literacy Trust and other similar programmes can help turn these statistics around.

And when next year’s National Writing Day comes around, hopefully we will be highlighting a rise in writing enjoyment.

Despite the longstanding and valued position in British society of sport, getting people of all ages involved in sport and physical activity has become increasingly challenging. While current UK guidelines for aerobic activity recommend that adults aged 19 and over should spend at least 150 minutes per week in moderately intensive physical activity, the latest statistics on physical activity from the British Heart Foundation indicate that:

Only 67% of men in England and Scotland report meeting recommended levels of physical activity, and only 59% in Northern Ireland and 37% in Wales;

Women are less active than men in all UK countries, with 58% reporting meeting recommended levels in Scotland, 55% in England, and 49% in Northern Ireland and 23% in Wales;

Physical activity levels vary by household income; in England in 2012, 76% of men in the highest income quintile reached recommended levels, compared to 55% of men in the lowest income quintile.

The implications of inactivity

Low levels of physical activity not only have health implications, but also economic – in the UK, inactivity has been estimated to cost the NHS £1.1billion (Allender, 2007) with indirect costs to society bringing this cost to a total of £8.2billion.

In addition, the briefing profiles successful interventions at the community level, such as Let’s Get Fizzical, a physical activity programme for young people delivered by StreetGames in collaboration with Birmingham City Council. International examples of good practice are also highlighted, including the Active Healthy Kids Canada programme and the North Karelia Project in Finland.

With the closing ceremony complete, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games would appear to have been a resounding success, with multiple records being set on the track and tourists and locals alike praising the atmosphere that hosting the Games has brought to the city.

But what impact are the Games having away from the arenas? Alongside those relying on the public transport network to go about their daily routine, as well as travel to the events, the local business community has felt the direct impact of the Games arriving in the city.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games are drawing to a close in Glasgow, and in addition to all the sporting action that is taking place in the city, the Games have acted as a catalyst for a wide range of cultural events. Perhaps one of the most ambitious in scale was the Big Big BIG Sing, which took place on Glasgow Green on 27th July, with a day-long programme of varied events, from beatboxing to Gaelic singing. In this article, we take a closer look at the Big Big BIG Sing and a couple of other projects in local communities across the UK, which are putting music centre stage in community engagement and regeneration.

In recent weeks, my morning walk from the east end of Glasgow into the city centre has been accompanied by the roar of pneumatic drills and the tang of warm tarmac. Main roads have been resurfaced, shop-fronts have been refurbished, waste ground has been landscaped. Even the local chip shop has been given a makeover.

The outbreak of spring cleaning is part of a major effort to ensure that Glasgow looks its best for the athletes, spectators and media attending the 20th Commonwealth Games, which open on 23 July. But it’s also an attempt to breathe new life into a long-neglected part of the city. Continue reading →